Manic Monday July 13, 2015

It's Manic Monday, and I actually have the day off apart from some client development activities earlier in the AM. Yes, the weekend flew by with any number of experiences from dancing (I mean kinda) at one of the local restaurant/bar spots, work, running along the beach, reading, and trying to figure out why I've had so many random periods of that strange feeling that 'something is wrong.'

Yup, I actually took the time to read through a few things I was asked to by my publisher for clarity on different parts of the stories. I'll be honest, it's the first time that I've read through them since I took down The Pursuit of Happiness (Click to go to story) last May. It is presently available to read without the extras going into the actual published edition. Reading through it was only slightly emotional. I actually experienced more laughter out of parts of it than I had thought before the April 1st section. The things you forget about and how random they seem when placed into the story format, but, then again, that's real life...random. I mean we have plans, and do things, but right in the middle of what you think is happening, something unexpected happens, and that's what makes life interesting. It tests your character when randomness happens to you, and hopefully you do well in how you respond.

One thing to note, you actually have to participate in life. You have to get out of your place and let the sun hit your face. Or, a random branch just like the one I found on my jeep this morning. Nothing can happen to you if you don't get outside and live. Remembering this small detail, I went out Friday night. It was different than what I had planned, but I'm flexible when it comes to people cause you never really know what to expect. I was surrounded by people drinking, dancing, and hawking in some instances (guys trying to pick off drunk chic they thought were alone). It was fun, but when I had a moment and was able to look into the sky, I really just felt like I was there on my own. I was there with a few people, but we only really know each other from that place and loosely through mutual friends. This is when I had one of those overwhelming something is wrong moments. I thought, "This can't all just be me." Having had similar experiences of it in the past only to have my former significant experiencing the same thing; we were often both mildly surprised the other knew something was up.

I was gonna text her, and see if she was cool, but I didn't. I went back to the dance floor to shake off the sentiment instead with one of the gals I showed up with that apparently needed to use me as a dance poll or just someone to keep her from falling to the floor. It was in that moment that I realized I should've been having the time of my life, "I've got a hot chic grinding on my leg. The music is good, and I'm in California, and the weather is near perfect. But something feels wrong. Something is off, and I think I know what it is." I thought to myself but kept holding on to the gal dancing with me largely so she didn't bite it from her one too many drinks! LOL.

When the time came, I politely walked the gal and her people over to the valet stand and dismissed myself. It took everything in my being to not grab my phone and call her if only to know she was OK, but I drove home. I somehow didn't want to be wrong and come across to her as annoying. And even though we've spoken about those exact sensations in the past and not just trying to 'be strong' and not call, we agreed that we should...cause you never know. The rest of my weekend was tainted by this. I felt I didn't do my end of the deal even if I was more or less honoring our verbal agreement. My resolve to it was to write her an email stating the above, and all the things that lead up to it-that somethings wrong feeling-hoping it was just me. Hahahah.

I went about my normal work schedule on Saturday and Sunday crafting that email, changing it, putting information in and then taking it out, but eventually I just let it simmer, and I ran the beach run way on Sunday. I made it to my buddy Tim's 2nd Sunday musician gathering to see some interesting music performances. It was a good Sunday fun day. Periodically, I look at my phone wondering. Tim and me made it out to have a drink before I headed over to karaoke, and we talked about the Over The Edge project and the tracks that I want to cover by the end of July, but in the end we decided to get together and go over the calendar dates for things when I returned. We laughed it off, and I left for Santa Monica to meet up with my other buddy Fallon for karaoke.

It was a great night. The weather was perfect, and it has been the last few days on the whole! The place was actually slow for a Sunday. I was surprised, but it just meant I could work on some Eagle's songs that I hope to include on my cover album. Some where along the way a gal walked up to me while I was sitting outside on the bench taking in the night's weather and started yapping at me. She's from NY she informed me but had moved to the area for a production job. When she found out I was from Minneapolis, she laughed informing me that her last boyfriend was from there! Small world it seemed! Later, she approached me again when I slipped out to the bench and gave me her number so I could "call her." I laughed thinking to myself, "It's cause I'm a Midwest guy...isn't it?!" I agreed I'd give her a holler when I got back from my trip up to the Home Land, but in the meantime, I was busy till I left. Then, I just left the karaoke scene all together and drove home as I had in the past.

The drive was as it always is at that time of the night--smooth with virtually no traffic. As I passed various landmarks along the roadway, the sensation came over me again as if to remind me of past moments making the same drive to KC's place for the night. Except I wasn't driving to her place; I was driving to mine if only a few miles away. Maybe the sensation made the landmarks stick out to me versus them bringing out the sensation again. I wasn't sure which was the case, but she was on my mind, and it again took all of my will power to do nothing.

When I made it home, I hit my bed like I had just run a marathon from the exhaustion of adjusting people five straight days in a row and the mental debate I was having with myself on why not to email or send a text to KC. Over 175 people got adjusted in one way or another. I was out instantly. When I woke, most of what I dreamed I remembered some of which was KC and me talking about what was happening with her and how our being stubborn and not wanting the other to know was ridiculous. LOL. I laughed, and then I made my way out to start another Manic Monday.

The experience on the whole left me edgy until I was sitting in the passenger seat of one of my new local friend's posh SUV. It was only for those few moments that I was actually calm. We hiked, and ended up having a burger at one of the local Malibu spots I hit up now and then. In the end, I had a great time hiking around and getting to know my hiking companion's life story till then. When she dropped me off, I went to the gym wondering if I should've called or sent that email to KC. I'm not sure, so I thought to write about it here and at least let it out into the open. Meh. I'm gonna be home, Minnesota, soon, so maybe things will be just fine.

It's Friday. Friday. Friday...but I'm working tomorrow.

Well it's Friday, just before the wonderful work day starts, and I just drove nearly two hours to get to it...the office that I'm servicing today! LOL. In the background of all the traffic, I kept hearing an old Eagles tune to keep my mind off of it-the drive. "Well I'm running down the road trying to loosen my load. I've got seven women (really just four) on my mind. Four of them want to hold me (just two), two of them want to stone me (likely just one), and one says she's a friend of mine (at least three of them)! Take it easy..Take it easy..Don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy!" It's true....kinda.

The gal on the left, Ranger Mel, has become a fairly close friend of mine over the last couple of months even though it feels like I've know her much longer. The gal on the right, is the fourth of July Midwesterner that went to fireworks with me. I'll leave her anonymous presently, but the two of them were out giving the local guys a hard time for any number of reasons while remembering that all of us have some basic needs, and that eventually lead to my being texted to join them for a drink. I figured it was more my friend Mel that was asking and not the two of them wanting to clear the air between the three of us as I started to ask for some of the ER doc's time if she had it. I figure, "What the hell." I'm not always interested in doing things by myself (That's not how it was supposed to happen when I got to Cali), but I do; I just prefer not to be a desperado all of the time. LOL. So the male/female thing that happens between single people that are all essentially "out on the market" happens even when you don't intend it to, and it should mean that people can have a good time until you need to have a talk or do something about it. Just sayin.

The rest of the week was smoother than I thought it was going to be leading up to today...Friday. I'll let ya know how the weekend goes on Monday, and the next day, I'll be coming home!!! Hell yes.

Holiday Weekend, Fireworks, & The Book.....

It's the end of another holiday weekend, and I'm in the land of milk and honey, or as it really is the 'land of milk and many honies. The time is just after 6:00 AM this glorious Monday morning...cloud cover, cool air, and just the right amount of moisture in the air to make breathing easy. It's becoming harder for me to actually know where I am in the mornings except for the palm trees and all the California plates everywhere. Yup. It's great weather just like it is back in the Home Land. I was supposed to be there this weekend, but a schedule conflict and other events pushed out my trip till later this month.

So, by luck of the draw, I was here in the parking lot of my other neighborhood Starbucks store in Thousand Oaks with another Midwesterner that, like me, doesn't have family to go grill out with, had to work most of the day, and is essentially new to town. We thought to share the time and get to know each other more than just passing ships in the night versus the other option--sitting at home doing nothing alone and wondering. The picture is one of many colors that lit the sky, and how the night ended, but certainly not how the day started....

Saturday began by my buddy Fallon's Dog barking. I ended up passed out the night before on the sofa, a more familiar crash spot since the LA Marathon. We stayed up watching a documentary on the Eagles and having some Mexican food as we figured out if we should really consider putting a band together beyond us singing...ya know... like have a guitarist, a drummer, and someone to play bass. We've been talking about it for just over a year now. Well, it's been me talking about it and getting Fallon on the bandwagon. But, after playing him the track that I cut at my other buddy's place, Tim, I think he saw some possibility. It wasn't that he doesn't think I know how to sing. I think it's just getting the horse to the recording studio and making it happen. That's why people need managers!! LOL.

As usually is the case, I woke up with a sense of urgency, but I gradually put it in check and made my way over to grab a coffee before a run down the Venice walk/bike way. By then, the roads were already packed with people trying to get to the beach for a holiday experience an watch the parade. I thought about my very recent beach experiences with other locals and my former only to laugh cause it's what I thought I would be doing this holiday (going to the beach), but I got to run instead. The run was cleansing physically and mentally. It felt good. It was only made better with the number of songs I downloaded from the Eagles to go over before the next day's karaoke session. I got some of that Peaceful, Easy Feeling (Click for the video) back for the first time in a long while, and it let me breathe again.

Eventually, I made it home to clean out my Jeep in case I actually had a guest in it for the night's activities. LOL. I'll be honest, I didn't know if she was actually gonna show up or not. As men, any good outing is graduated by this small point, the girl showing up!! Anything after that is really just honey to sweeten the pot. Med pros can be delayed in leaving work if something serious comes in, and being it was a holiday weekend, it was busy. Not to mention we had only connected the day before; so, meeting up for a burger and a beer and maybe watch the fireworks seemed fun as neither of us had anything better to do.

After discovering that most places I thought to go to were closed for the holiday, we ended up at BJs Bar & Grill. I walked in and made my way to the bar checking for a short, blonde, and petite gal along the way (cause ya never know...I could happen. Hahaha.). To my relief, the bar counter was largely empty. The bartender, another green eyed gal from Minneapolis, was mildly surprised to see my ID, and like happens every other time I run into a Homelander, we instantly decide we should exchange information to meet up again and tell the other person how we escaped! The lack of genuine people will do that to Midwestern people; we just want to believe people are like us when in fact they probably could care less. It's true. We laughed a bit as I waited for a tall dark haired woman to make the scene, and when she arrived, I strangely felt relieved. I have no idea why. Maybe I was just afraid of being alone considering where I was, and as most of you know, I have no issues being alone. I guess I'll have to think about that a little more.

After some back and forth on how she ended up there from Michigan and me from Minnesota, we laughed, finished our drinks, and made our way out to Starbucks for some coffee and dessert. It turns out that any of those parking lots were where people in the immediate area staged themselves to watch the fireworks. It was cool and became even better when the fireworks finally started. It seemed we had a lot in common and were politely surprised by the others' actual person beyond what we knew of each other. She did ask if we were on a date to which I was quick to call it a social outing! LOL. Calling it a "date" implied there was some intention to go somewhere with it--the outing. If you take that off, the 'dating' title, the pressure is off, and you can just chill. Admittedly, I was much more interested in her after the outing, but we'll see. Dive bars and karaoke is in our near future it seems! LOL.

There is definitely something safe about being from the Midwest and being with someone that's also from there. It's as if you have an understanding of life, its seasons, and an anticipation of new things on the horizon no matter how good or poor the last season was. I guess that's why the bartender was happy to see my ID and thought that maybe we could meet up sometime just to shoot the crap about her experience here thus far. I've said it before to a lots of people and my closer people that California is beautiful and big, but she is also hard, and at times challenging to deal with. Once you can navigate yourself in it, California and it's culture, life gets much easier. Till then, you learn.... a lot! LOL.

On a different but related topic, I've started the process of getting my story to book format by sending it to various publishers. A few of them got back to me, and one, Dorrance Publishing, presented me with the best package deal that will not only make it digitally available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, but also in formats compatible for the Nook, and other digital readers. They will market it on all of the available outlets available. They informed me that the work had been accepted and that they would like to present me with the opportunity to be one of their authors as an autobiographical and inspirational piece. I think I was driving when I got that email (phone call later the same day). I nearly drove off the road from my eyes watering from what seemed to be an all encompassing sensation of relief. It's the best word I can use to describe that sensation. The book will be available this late Fall 2015 as one story in three sections with pictures, commentary, and time-line of events charts. It's true. "And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free (The Bible.)." I"ll keep you posted as the process progresses.

"Land of the free. Home of the brave."

It's Friday, and the lead up to a 4th of July weekend! I was gonna be home for it, but it turns out I had to work and a few other things came up. However, today and tomorrow, which never really happens to me as of late, I'm off!! It really just means that I'm going to hit the gym, run, and lay down a cover track the next few days that will hopefully be available on YOUTUBE. It's been a project that I've been working on for a few months, but it got put on the back burn for a while. I wanted to surprise everyone with it, especially my former, but it turns out recording music "en vivo" or in the studio is harder than you think. Either way, with some luck and some harder work today, I'll get another one of the songs done.

The forth of July weekend is the day we as American's remember what makes our nation great and that not so old notion of 'hard work' can and does pay-off. It is the day that we say yes to 'freedom' and 'no' to being told what and how to live our lives by and large. Take a moment and think about all you have. All that you can do, and all that you could do if you wanted.....and listen to our National Anthem somewhere......

"O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

We are those people....the free....and the brave.

Enjoy the days ahead and stay safe if you're in America!

#GetAdjustedToTheGoodLife

Good Weather. Bad Weather. Could be MN weather!!? Updated 7/1/15

It's Monday June 29, 2015. The weather has been 'crazy' here if you ask the locals. What they call crazy is really just some good Midwest weather!! LOL. There is cool air at night and in the morning. Clouds have come and gone during the day versus the normal cloudless weather most people experience here daily. There has even be humidity and periods of random rainfall. Yup. Good O'l Minnesota weather is what it is...except there's an ocean in the horizon. It's made the days seem a little more friendly in their quietness before or after I leave the office or the gym. It's true.

Yesterday, Sunday, I almost got to do most of my normal routine of run along the beach way, gym, and make my way up to a familiar burger shop, but I got stuck in traffic for two extra hours. After that, I was just spent from the heat and ended up  at a grill-out in the mountains with the area police and rescue teams. It was cool, but eventually, I made my way down to the PCH to have one drink at the burger shop figuring it was late enough to not intrude on someone else's routine out of courtesy. The bartender as well as most of the staff knew me instantly as I had come there in earlier days a lot on my own but also with short stack. The bartender is also a guy from Mn. We talked about the Vikings, the stadium, and his upcoming vacation with his wife to Lake Tahoe. He was cool and wondered why I had come in so late versus "your guys usual time." I laughed and simply said I had to work that day in Costa Mesa and then had a grill out to make down the way just before I walked into the place. We laughed. He "comped" me my drink, and I left for karaoke.

I thought about her for a bit on my way past my now shared exit with her over the hill to area where we live. I rolled down the windows to let the fresh night air into my ride, and turned up the music. The Police was playing, "Every Breath You Take," and I more closely understood what he meant by "I look around, but it's you I can't replace.." I was emotional for a minute. Then, I hit PCH traffic and instantly was aggravated by it. LOL. I whispered a few things into the air to K.C. as if she could through space, time, and distance hear me. "I know. I know. Everything will work out exactly as its suppose to....," I thought perceiving what her reply would be. The Promise started to kick into the background of my mental music player cooling my head from the traffic jam. :/

It was exactly one month ago, I made it to Zuma Beach after a 2.5 day drive from Minnesota. I was pulling a "Good Will Hunting" move where I was going to California to check up on a gal. We spoke that day some as we had in the days leading up to my departure. I suppose she didn't actually think it was going to happen considering, but she was content that I did even if she was skiddish about it on the whole. It's been good to be here but challenging at times.

Arriving at King's Head,the place where I do karaoke on Sunday's, brought some needed familiarity back into my reality. It's part of my routine that helps keep me sane. We need that...a routine..to help keep us on track. I put in my request to do that exact Police song. As I sang it, a couple of beautiful French girl tourists were sitting by the front of the place. After my initial song, they invited me to yap with them about things to do on their last days here in Los Angeles. My response was simple, "Go to Malibu..Zuma and Ollies or The Sunset."  So went the night with a few more songs and one more drink to help me keep it all in perspective. Hahaha. That's the news from a Midwest guy in the land of Milk and Honey.

Getting Ready For Another Weekend of Adjusting....

License To Adjust.

It's Friday June 26, 2015. The sun it out, and it's early enough that I might actually get some writing in before the local Starbucks gets packed. I laughed as I looked at my phone's screen saver which is the picture to the left. It's one that I had to talk Dr. Burke into seriously consider making an advertising campaign out of when I was regularly providing services for him. It could've been the beginning of something fresh, even in its classic replication of a Bond pose, for what was becoming a difficult market to net patients out of in volume. Bill board the right sides of town with this ad and other key socially recognized pictures (Like the TOP GUN guys playing volleyball), and people will not only take you as a good chiropractic group but also one that is in touch and culturally relevant. People like that kind of stuff, and people seemed to like us as is obvious by our making the Minnesota Monthly Magazine's Top Chiropractors list for this very month of June 2015. LOL. It's true.

As I walked up to the place, I noticed I missed a call . It happens more than not because I usually leave my phone on vibrate at work and forget to switch it back. It's usually AARP or some political group wanting some funding, but today it was a publishing agent from Dorrance Book Publishers. The message was short and to the point. "We read your blog story, The Pursuit Of Happiness, we would like to speak to you about having our team review it with your permission." It's the second group that has contacted me about it--my story. The first reached out to me shortly after I finished the first section of the story, This Unbelievable Life. It was this story and its virtual en vivo style of writing that drew in readers from around the world in just a few short weeks. That story, This Unbelievable Life, lead to post cards, letters (both good and not so happy) from people I didn't know. In fact, I still get post cards now and then. So, I guess.

When I started writing these stories, I had no intention of them actually being read by anyone beyond the few people that read or really just looked at the pictures I used to post of my graduate school experience in Northern California. When I started writing the first story, became obsessed with finishing it. I had no idea of what I was doing or how to blog or any of it. I was writing what I thought made sense and communicated what was happening with me and in me in real time. This is where the Current Life Sound Track series came from. With the links to the actual music videos, it made it easier for people to know what was playing in my head by giving the reading a background sound.

As I moved into the second story, Recovery: Surviving & Reconstructing The Dream, I had developed a style of writing, not so much the editing, that communicates well to people giving them a fuller picture of thoughts, ideas, emotions, logical directions in the story, etc. This lead to my most recent story of things to share, The Pursuit of Happiness.It was not till I met my now former girl KC did I think I was going to get to it again. The story is available to read presently.

So now it's the weekend, and I'll write up a Manic Monday review of it, and anything interesting that happens along the way. There it is.

Firestone...Again! 6/18/2015

It's mid morning on this very clear and sunny Thursday. It's my last day off for a number of days, and fortunately I have it off! Why? After hitting the 3000 mile mark (well a few hundred over), I decided to get the oil changed and the lines checked only to have the oil change tech point out that I was leaking axle fluid all over the place. WTF is what I said because it certainly didn't happen on the way down from the Home Land. It didn't happen the first week that I was here. It happened after I took it to Firestone to repair the U-Joint on that same side of the Jeep. I know this because it was clearly not leaking the day they repaired it or they would've said, "Hey, you have a leak, and it's bad!" What happened was they put it together and broke one of the seals, and it started to leak out after I left the shop.

This is why they didn't see it! It hadn't started to spew out till I left. Had I not gotten my oil changed yesterday, or had agreed to let them, Firestone, change it the day they did the U-Joint fix, I wouldn't have known till I burned out the front end or had the front lock up on me. And considering where I've been living till today, that could've lead to me driving right off the mountain road down into the ravine. I guess when it's your time; it's your time! LOL. What was sad was the Firestone people didn't want to take responsibility for their mess up. "It must've been like that when you brought it in last Sir. You must've hit something that caused it to break." All these things mechanics tell people that don't work on cars. BUT, I'm Mexican!! I work on my car. I have for the last 15 years, and I know all there is to know about leaks, repairs, etc. When I pointed out the flaw in their logic that implied it was that way before I brought it in, I asked why when they did such an intrusive job to fix that U-Joint had there been no signs of a leak, "Cause you would've pointed that out to me, but your paper work doesn't list it at all." When I also pointed out that the side that the leak was from was where they did the repair was the new side of components, as in I had some parts replaced a few years back, that it could've only been a mistake on their part. They finally had to accept responsibility, and got on it.

So today, with lightning speed, or not so lightning, Firestore is repairing and cleaning up that mess they made. My normal schedule of things has been cut down to waiting for my jeep, emailing, and deciding what color curtains I should get in my new place. I know. It's pathetic cause I should be at the gym working on my health, putting my bed together, and cleaning my Jeep up some so it doesn't look like a complete mess this weekend when I driving to work. LOL. I'm an American, and I believe in giving people good service especially when they pay me for it. If I pay you for a service, I expect the same, and when either one of us falls short, I expect everyone to step up to the occasion and perform. That's what doing business is all about. So now I wait!. I write. I drink my cup of 'JOE', and look at my phone to ring so they can tell me it's ready...as in before afternoon traffic.
That's the news from a Midwest guy  in the land of milk and honey.